Used Versacamm v New BN-20

[Warren Beard]

Hi Marc

I think that’s a bit much for a 4 year old SP300i, I would like to get that much for my SP540i which is 3 years old. If you must have white then the bn is what you need but if not then the larger the better as you won’t be limited, you can’t even do roll up banners on the 300. If you had £5k you would probably be able to find a decent sp540i.

Cheers

Warren

[Robert Lambie]

quick reply…
i agree with Mr Beard 😉

[Marc Andrew]

Thank’s for getting back to me swiftly. I did think the price was a bit steep 🙁
I am now leaning more to the smaller BN20 – I had already made my mind up until i saw the SP300 advertised. Although smaller, i think i will have better peace of mind with the BN20 as at least it will have a warranty. I’m hoping i won’t be too limited with it as labels and decals were what i was mainly going to use it for. It will be a sideline to another part of my business.

[Denise Goodfellow]

Personally, having had a bad experiance with a second had printer, I would not go for one, unless they had an invoice showing very recent repairs or service.

Most printer are sold as seen, no warrenty given. They work one day, the next day they do not… sometimes you see signs of degrading print quality.

Our friend also had problems, he maxed out on a second hand printer from a rep company, within weeks the print quality wasn`t there, engineer came out and quoted £1200 for a head, somehow he missed that it wasn`t covered, he swears they said it was… he had to borrow to get it working again. Needless to say he bad mouthed that company everyday until they went under..

So one day its working, the next you have a bill for £1000+. Unless the price is good, with room in it for a repair, I`d opt for new everytime, even if you have to have credit. You get warrenty on parts and labour and all that comes with a new machine/make/model etc.

JMO

xx

[Stafford Cox]

I’m not that familiar with the BN, but to be honest, Roland warranty is nothing short of epic!! I know a couple of guys who do freelance work for Roland and there is never any question of getting parts replaced if necessary. Having said that, an SP is quite cheap to repair IF things go wrong and a warranty/maintenance contract won’t cost the Earth.

Best of luck whichever you decide.

Stafford

[Jason Bagladi]

I have a BN-20 and its a fantastic machine. Graphics are really a hobby for me and my mortgage doesn’t rely on doing printing 8hrs a day.
Issues that my affect other users:
Speed – Not the quickest and very slow if printing metallic, but quality is spot on.
Media – Limited to 515mm width with max print width of 480mm
Waste collection tank is classed as a consumable and costs around £70 + VAT to replace.
Metallic option can work out expensive if you dont print much of it as when the printer auto cleans, the metallic (£160 ish +VAT) goes to the waste tank.
Other than that, can’t fault it!!

[Marc Andrew]

Thank you for all of your replies. I have opted and now placed my order for the new BN-20. I do not want to become one of the horror stories of buying a used machine and it ending up being a dud.
I’m sure i will be very happy with the BN-20 as it will suit my needs. It’s good to get peoples opinions though and run through all the options before settling on an investment.

[Fabrice Menard]

If I were you I wouldn’t go for a new BN20 nor a used SP300.

If you are new with this kind of machine it is very risky to buy a used one. On the other hand, if you do some small signage (even labels), you will very quickly see that a BN20 isn’t wide enough. 48cm width max printing, what kind of signage can you do?

I would wait until I get enough money to afford a new 100 or 130cm print&cut machine (a mimaki cjv300-100 is not that much more expensive than a BN20). In between I would outsource until my market grows and then invest in an adequate machine.

My 2ct 😀 😉 (-)